Weep Not For the Past
by The Rewrite
Summary: This story takes place during the Marauders time at Hogwarts. It generally fits in with cannon. There will probably be some errors; I am only human. Enjoy! Any comments you have would be appreciated. Rated T for safety.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize.

I hope you enjoy the story!

* * *

People milled around the house, moving from room to room, stopping to chat here or there. Laughter floated around the house, interspersed with the sounds of friendly arguments and thoughtful discussions.

A loud knock on the door interrupted those towards the front of the house. A young redheaded girl ran to find her honorary aunt and uncle, the owners of the house. She ran past many people she knew, all part of her extended family in some way or another. Weasleys, Potters, and Longbottoms were all relaxing pleasantly in various places around the house. She knew Teddy Lupin, her sister Victoire's fiancé, was around somewhere. She also passed the Scamander twins, Lorcan and Lysander, who were entertaining Scorpius Malfoy with a tale of their travels.

"Aunt Luna!" Dominique called as she ran.

She found her aunt in a dark room towards the back of the house, showing off the new creature she had found on her latest travels. Next to her stood her husband, Rolf Scamander.

"Aunt Luna! Uncle Rolf! There's some-" she stopped abruptly, caught off guard by the strange creature glowing eerily in a tank. "What's that?"

"I don't know." Luna said dreamily. "I've only just discovered it. We haven't thought of a name, but it is quite fascinating. It glows in the dark and is invisible when there is light."

"Oh… Right…" Dominique trailed off then shook her head, almost as though coming out of a trance. "Anyways, I came to tell you there's someone at the door."

Rolf frowned. "They didn't ring the bell."

Those in the small room followed Luna's dreamy gait towards the front door.

The knocking had stopped, but Luna and Rolf still opened the door. Standing behind it on the front steps was a tan, silvery-haired women, her skin wrinkled and leathery with age.

"Hello, Luna." Her voice was rough and she gave a painful looking half-smile that seemed unnatural on her face. "I hope you don't mind my intrusion." Her voice had a certain quality that made the words sound sarcastic and sharp, almost taunting, though on the surface they were polite.

"Of course not," Luna said. "It's always lovely speaking with you."

Rolf moved out of the way of the door. "Do come in, Catalina. It must be cold out."

Dominique peered around her uncle, watching as the old woman hobbled through the door.

"Luna," Catalina asked, "Today's your birthday, isn't it?"

She watched closely as Luna nodded serenely.

"Good, good," she mumbled to herself. Louder, she continued, "I'd like to see Harry Potter."

"Harry?" Luna tilted her head to the side ever so slightly. "Why?"

"Because I've got something to tell him, that's why."

"Well, come on then." Rolf motioned for her to follow him. "Harry's somewhere back here."

She followed, mumbling unintelligibly under her breath.

By the time they reached Harry, quite a few people had become interested in the mad-looking old lady. She gathered more attention as she stood in front of Harry, waiting until the entire room stood silent, watching her.

Finally, she spoke. "Hello, Harry Potter."

Harry stood there bemusedly for a moment before responding. "Er. Hello. Is there… something I can help you with?"

Amusement could be seen on her wizened face for just a moment before it was lost. "No. I need no help at the moment. However, I have come here to make you an offer."

Everyone stood silently for another moment, waiting for her to say more. She, however, began to look around at the various decorations the Scamanders had put in their living room.

Harry looked around at his family and friends. "I don't think you've said exactly what this offer is."

Her eyes flashed up to meet his. "No, no I haven't."

"Well… what is it?"

"It is not curiosity that killed the cat, Harry Potter, but the cat's own impatience." She turned back to look at an intricately designed copy of the Sword of Gryffindor.

"Catalina," Rolf called disapprovingly. "Stop messing with his head. Make your 'offer' and be done with it."

Catalina rolled her eyes and made a small noise of displeasure. "Fine, fine. I will make my offer." She turned back towards Harry. "Once, long ago, I met some… interesting… people. It was a different world, then, back when I was young."

James, Harry's eldest son, snorted and muttered something to his cousin Fred about dinosaurs. Catalina turned swiftly to glare at him.

"Do you wish to hear this story, boy?" she asked, her voice dangerously low as she regarded him coolly.

James' surprise at being called out did not last long. He smirked arrogantly, holding up his higher before responding just as coolly. "Depends. You still haven't managed to tell us what it's about."

Catalina's eyes narrowed, but she answered him. "It's about your namesakes, boy. Both of them."

Harry raised an eyebrow and leaned forward in interest. "You knew my father?"

Catalina ignored the question and instead asked one of her own. "Do you want to hear my story?"

Harry hesitated for just one moment, making eye contact briefly with his wife. "Yes."

"Fine." She moved to the couch, motioning for everyone else to sit down as well. "I will tell the story. But remember this, boy," she said as she fixed Harry with her penetrating stare. "Do not weep for the past. The dead are dead and nothing you can do will change that."

Everyone eyed her curiously as they settled down on chair or on the floor.

When each person had fallen silent, Catalina began to speak. "This story begins many years ago with two eleven year olds, cousins. They had just recently received their Hogwarts letters and were planning on going to Diagon Alley with their family to shop for school supplies…"

* * *

"James! James, wake up!"

A young boy groaned and rolled over in a bed much too large for him as a girl ran into his room, throwing the doors wide open. He buried his face in his pillow before mumbling, "Go 'way, Rhea. 'm sleeping."

The girl sighed before an idea struck her and a mischievous grin made its way across her face. She clambered onto the bed and began to jump up and down enthusiastically.

The boy sat up and glared. He crossed his arms and attempted to look intimidating, but could not quite pull it off as his usually messy brown hair was even more tousled than normal and his deep brown eyes were still heavy with sleep. The girl, his cousin, merely smiled innocently at him. She bounced over to him and sat down, hugging him and affectionately ruffling his hair. He looked at her pleadingly, silently begging for a little more sleep. She simply shook her head, smiling fondly at him.

"It's time to get up, James. Today, we're going to Diagon Alley!"

* * *

"O.K., now, you two. We have to go over the rules before we can floo anywhere."

The two children glanced at each other, smirking, before turning to pay rapt attention to Charles Potters' speech. He smiled knowingly at them before glancing at his wife. She looked older than usual, her face set in harsh lines as she attempted to look stern and impress upon the children the importance of following the rules. However, this façade broke down as she peeked to her left and caught the eye of her sister-in-law, who was smiling indulgently at her daughter and nephew.

Charles clapped his hands, rubbing them together in a conspiratorial fashion before beginning, "First off, you are not to leave Diagon Alley. That means no Knockturn Alley, and I don't care whether you leave Diagon on purpose or by accident. Both are equally punishable. 'I got lost,'" he said, making quotation marks with his fingers, "is no longer a valid excuse. Nor is 'I was just following Rhea,' understand?"

James nodded sheepishly while Rhea smiled innocently at her uncle.

"Good," Charles continued. "Next thing is you need to stay within two meters of one of us at all times. And by 'one of us' I mean one of the _adults_ in this room right now. You two don't count, o.k.? And don't disturb the shopkeepers. No running around in the stores, or knocking things over, or even fighting with each other. Be polite to other shoppers and whatever else you may do,_ do not_antagonize the Gringotts goblins. I think you both remember what happened last time."

He tried to look strict as the children hung their heads ashamedly. They did not look up right away and therefore did not notice the grins that adorned their mothers' faces.

"Alright, those are all the rules I can think of," Charles finished. He stepped back and gestured to his wife and sister before saying, "Do you two have anything to add?"

His wife merely shook her head while his sister, Leean, looked pensive.

"Well, let's see," she said thoughtfully. "You said about the goblins and Knockturn Alley. . . No, I think you got everything."

"Good," Charles said. He turned to his son and niece. "You remember how to work the floo, right? I wouldn't want either of you to get lost."

Both children nodded eagerly, their faces showing their excitement.

"Alright, then, let's go!" Charles said enthusiastically.

The women laughed at the delight on James' and Rhea's faces as they ran towards the fireplace. They followed the children slowly, pulling down the pot of floo powder from its spot above the fireplace.

As Emma held the pot out to her husband, she instructed, "Charles, you and Lee will go first. Then James and Rhea. I'll come last."

They each grabbed a handful of powder and one by one threw it into the fire, disappearing to the Leaky Cauldron in a swirl of green light and ashes…

* * *

Catalina paused, clearing her throat and gauging the reactions of her audience.

"Wait," Ron said, his confusion showing on his face as he took the short gap to ask his question. "Who's Rhea? I've never heard of her."

Rose Weasley, his daughter, rolled her eyes but smiled fondly. "There's probably plenty of people you've never heard of, Dad."

Ron raised an eyebrow, challenging her. "Oh, so you know who she is?"

"Of course. She's James Potter's cousin."

Albus laughed, leaning around Scorpius, his best friend, to look at Rose. "You just know that from the story Rosie."

She pouted slightly. "I'm not dignifying that with a response."

Ginny rolled her eyes at the younger generation. "I've never heard of her either. Did James Potter really have a cousin?"

Molly, looking much older than usual with a frown upon her face, answered. "Yes, she did. I met her a few times. She was killed before Harry was born." Her voice shook a little. "About a year before Fabian and Gideon…"

"Ah, yes." Catalina murmured. "Fabian and Gideon Prewitt. We'll be getting to them eventually, we will."

Everyone was quiet for a moment, waiting for someone to say something.

"Well, now." Catalina looked at each listener individually. "On with the story! And I don't want no more interruptions, understand?"

* * *

Author's Note: So, this is Chapter One. I'd appreciate it if you would review and tell me what you think, whether it is positive or negative. Even if you don't, thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: None of the characters you recognize belong to me. It all belongs to J.K. Rowling.

Chapter 2

One by one each of the Potters fell out of the fireplace, the adults more gracefully than the children. The Leaky Cauldron was only just beginning to fill up with customers, many blinking tiredly at the early hour while a few others were wide awake and rushing off to a new day's work.

Both James and Rhea were fascinated by the strange, eclectic collection of people currently being served breakfast by the kindly bartender, Tom. He seemed to be having particular trouble understanding one man's heavy Scottish accent. The man was getting more and more frustrated as he repeated his order, eventually banging his fist on the counter and spewing what sounded like curses in another language.

James was focused solely on this confrontation, trying to memorize the angry words, barely even noticing when his father picked him up and moved him out of the way of the aisle. Charles made his way towards the counter, frowning as he listened to the angry stream of words coming from the man's mouth.

"Hello," Charles said, as both the men at the bar turned to look at him. "Is everything all right over here?"

The Scott snorted and rolled his eyes, turning back towards the bar.

Charles merely raised an eyebrow before turning to the bartender. "I hope this man's not giving you too much trouble, Tom."

Tom, looking eager to talk to someone with a friendly face, gave a pleasant, if stressed, grin and answered "Of course not, Mr. Potter. It's nothin' ol' Tom can't handle."

Charles grinned back before turning back to the man slumped on a barstool. "Now, what was it you wanted?"

James leaned forward a bit, hoping to hear what the man said, but was unable to. Evidently, Charles could hear because a moment later he said, "A firewhiskey? This early in the morning?"

"That's what I was trying to tell him, sir." Tom said. "We usually don't open up any firewhiskey till later in the afternoon."

Charles looked curiously at the scruffy man for a moment before turning to Tom. "Well, do you think you could get some out for him? I know it's unusual, but…" He trailed off, looking at Tom hopefully.

Tom sighed and nodded, heading back to retrieve the drink.

As it was brought to the man, Charles turned towards Emma and called, "You four go on without me. I'd like to speak with Marcellus here a moment."

Leean and Emma began to usher the two children, both of whom were confused by the sudden change in plans, out of the bar. Once out the door, they paused, waiting for Leean to pull out her wand.

"But… who?" James trailed off, looking to his mother for an answer.

Rhea watched as her mother and aunt shared a secretive look. Her young face turned to a frown and her eyebrows furrowed as she looked on, confused.

Rhea stared at a trashcan for a moment, as though hoping it would give her answers. "But… how did Uncle Charles know his name?"

"Charles know a lot of people. Comes with being Head of a department," Emma said quickly, not quite meeting Rhea's eye. "Now come on. We have a lot of shopping to do today. James, your father will come meet up with us soon, so let's get going."

Leean moved to face the brick wall leading to Diagon Alley. "We need to go to Gringotts first, so there's no point in telling us if you see something you want. We'll look around on the way back. Got it?"

There were two murmurs of assent as the children tried to put the strange incident out of their minds. After all, Rhea thought, there was always time to think about it later, when there wasn't shopping to be done.

As Leean used her wand to tap out the correct sequence on the wall, Rhea felt the excitement building up inside her. Slowly, the bricks began to move, opening to show the magical shops of Diagon Alley.

Leean moved briskly through the portal, before turning back to find that only her sister-in-law had followed her. "Come along, you two. Let's not be standing here all day."

James and Rhea glanced at each other, elated, before moving through the portal at a half-run. Both adults moved swiftly through the crowds, Leean more purposefully than Emma. Emma constantly looked back, making sure the children were keeping up, and stopped Leean when she was moving too fast. The children, for their part, were looking around at the happy madness with interest, watching as some witches and wizards negotiated prices, argued about current events, or even, as one wizard was, walked around covered in filth holding out a cracked crystal ball as he told of the doom and destruction the future would bring.

"Listen!" he screeched, barely heard over the cacophony, "You can hear the cries of war to come! Look!" He shoved the cracked crystal ball towards a shocked women and her child, his face mad with panic. She moved away quickly, shielding her child and pushing him along, glancing over her shoulder in fear. The mad man did not seem to notice her leaving, but continued to push through the crowd, holding the ball aloft. "You can see the savior of our world!"

James and Rhea didn't even need to look at each other to know what the other was thinking. Simultaneously, they began to slip through the crowd toward the old, decrepit man.

They finally reached him, trying to tell some shoppers previously enjoying ice cream and sun outside of Fortescue's about an evil lord, half-man, half-snake, who would try to take over all of Britain. He let out a mad cackle. "Only the savior can stop him! Look!" He held out the crystal ball again. The others backed away, but he continued to babble nonsense. "Leave! Leave, while you still can! He will kill you all if you do not heed my warning!"

James and Rhea glanced nervously at each other before approaching him.

"Excuse me, sir," Rhea called politely, watching in shock as the man whirled around to face her, his eyes bulging out from his head. "If you don't mind, my cousin and I would like to see this 'savior'."

The man stood there a moment, staring at them as his mouth opened to show a few crooked, dirty teeth. Rhea wondered if he even understood what she said. She looked nervously into the crowd for a moment, hoping her mother and aunt had not gone too far away.

Just when she was about to tug James away and head toward Gringotts, the old man moved. He pushed his crystal ball in front of their faces, his wide eyes never moving from James' face. The ball was immaculately polished, and in excellent condition, aside from the rather large crack. It contrasted greatly with the mans gnarled, dirty hands.

James and Rhea peered into it with interest, and were disappointed to see only James' reflection.

"You see," the man whispered, leaning in towards them. He glanced around, as though he were sharing a secret. "The chosen one."

"But sir," James said indignantly, "that's just my-"

"James!" Emma's sharp voice pierced the din as she reached out to grab her son's shoulder. "What did we tell you two about staying near us at all times?"

"Well… It's just…" He glanced nervously at Rhea, hoping she had a better excuse than he did.

She hung her head. "We're sorry Aunt Emma." Her voice was low and guilt-ridden. "We were just curious. I mean he was shouting…"

She trailed off as she noticed the old man was no longer next to her.

Emma rolled her eyes. "Come on. Leean's waiting by Gringotts."

James and Rhea followed her through the crowd, careful not to fall behind again.

When they finally arrived at Gringotts, Leean ran forward from where she had been waiting by the door. She hugged Rhea and then James.

"If you two keep running off all the time, I'm afraid the next time we're going to have to leave you at home."

"No! We won't go anywhere, we promise," James started earnestly. "It's just, we saw someone-"

"We got distracted," Rhea said quickly, stepping on James' toes. As he winced, she continued. "We thought we saw there was a new flavor of ice cream."

Leean's eyes narrowed as she watched the small exchange. "Uh-huh. Well, we need to get going. We'll talk about this again when we get home, alright?"

Both children sighed and then followed their mothers into the bank.

While the adults were waiting for a goblin to be free, Rhea pulled James aside.

"What were you thinking?" she whispered angrily. "You know how mad they would be if they found out we were talking to some stranger. Especially one that's completely mad."

"Sorry." James said sheepishly. He then gave an eager grin. "But he was absolutely barmy, wasn't he? I mean my own reflection…"

Rhea looked amused, but then frowned slightly. "There was something funny about it, though."

"What?"

"For a second, I could have sworn your eyes looked green."

"Er- Maybe it was a trick of the light? I mean, we didn't really get a good look at it."

"Yeah, your probably right."

"Either way, we should catch up to Mum and Aunt Lee. Wouldn't want them to go to the vault without us." James flashed a taunting smirk. "Unless your too chicken to ride the cart and want to sit it out."

"Never!" Rhea took off running, pausing only to shout back, "Race you!"

James quickly began to run after her screaming "No fair!" as he went.

* * *

A/N: I'd really appreciate any feedback. Please review! It would encourage me to update faster...


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